Application for certification of the NSW Water Industry Access Regime

On 19 December 2008 the New South Wales Government applied for certification of the state's access regime for water industry infrastructure services (WICA Access Regime) as an effective access regime.  The WICA Access Regime was established under Part 3 of the Water Industry Competition Act 2006 (NSW) and the Water Industry Competition (Access to Infrastructure Services) Regulation 2007.

After receiving the application, the Council asked NSW to elaborate on a number of matters outlined in the document "Attachment: NSW application for certification of the water industry access regime-National Competition Council request for additional information". NSW provided the additional information on 17 February 2009.

On 2 February 2009 the Council gave notice of the application in "The Australian" newspaper and invited interested parties to make written submissions on the application.

On 11 May  2009 the Council provided its final recommendation to the Commonwealth Minister. On 10 July 2009 the Minister extended the standard 60 day period for making a decision on the Council's final recommendation by a further 60 days until 9 September 2009.

On 13 August 2009 the Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs made his decision on the application for certification of the regime. The Minister accepted the Council's final recommendation and determined that the regime be certified as effective for a period of 10 years.

On 8 September 2009 the Council made a recommendation to the Premier of New South Wales, the Hon Nathan Rees MP, that the declaration made by the Australian Competition Tribunal in Re Services Sydney Pty Ltd [2005] ACompT7 be revoked (see Services Sydney application for declaration of Sydney sewerage network services).  The Premier acting on the Council's recommendation revoked the declaration on 1 October 2009.